“McCarthy: Death of a Witch Hunter” (1975)

Emile de Antonio rehashes the Army-McCarthy hearing footage, but that’s always a good time. It’s interesting to see the camera that close in on a bad liar just when his credibility is being completely ravaged in an extremely public setting, while McCarthy’s exchange with Welch about pixies and fairies (“I think he might be an expert on that”) ought to be a staple in any history of the gay rights movement. McCarthy’s increasingly desperate ploys, the moment when John McClellan decides even he’s had enough of McCarthy’s bullshit, and McCarthy’s peroration to a rapidly emptying committee chamber, with the throng paying not even a scintilla of attention to his tinny last stand—it’s a comeuppance you usually don’t see outside of Capra movies.